Note: Some of the instructions from this guide are referring to the WP Admin dashboard. You can get to this dashboard by adding /wp-admin to the end of your site’s url (e.g.: example.wordpress.com/wp-admin)

Export from Blogger

Before you import, you’ll need to export your content from Blogger. When you’re logged in to Blogger, go to Settings → Other and click Back up Content → Save to your computer. This generates an .xml file with all your blog’s content. You can learn more on this guide from Google.

The export saves your posts and comments — including text, photos, videos, and other embedded files — but not your theme, custom domain, or personal settings. We’ll help you set those up on WordPress.com.

Import to WordPress.com

Click on the “Start Import” button next to the Blogger importer, and you’ll see the import form. Drag your export file into the box, or click the box to browse to the file on your computer.

Once the importer’s processed the uploaded file, click the Start Import button. You’ll be asked to reassign the authors of the imported items to an existing user on your WordPress.com site before the import process gets going.

Linking a Domain to Your New WordPress.com Blog

If you have a custom domain name, use Domain Mapping to connect it to WordPress.com. Domain mapping is included in our paid plans.

1. Update your nameservers to point to WordPress.com.

Right now, your domain is linked to Blogger, so you’ll need to update your domain’s nameservers — specifically, the DNS settings. If you bought your domain from Blogger, log in to your Google Apps account and find the “Advanced DNS Settings” console. Otherwise, we’ve got instructions for doing this with the most popular domain registrars.

Set your DNS to ns1.wordpress.com, ns2.wordpress.com, and ns3.wordpress.com. If you have trouble, your domain registrar can help.

2. Add the Domain Mapping upgrade to your WordPress.com blog.

Navigate to the Domainspage and select your site. Select Map it alongside the “Already own a domain?” option. Follow the instructions to add your domain.

Note: It will take a few hours (usually 3-4 hours) for these changes to go live.

3. Set your newly mapped domain as your blog’s primary address.

When the purchase is complete, head to the Domains page, select the button next to the domain you just mapped to your blog, and click Make Primary.

If you use an email address with your custom domain, there are a few more steps. First, you’ll need an email host, like Google Apps or Zoho Mail, and then you’ll need to create some custom DNS records — find detailed instructions here.

Note: Mapping is unrelated to the amount you pay your registrar to own the domain itself. You must continue renewing your domain with your registrar even after you map it to WordPress.com.

Customize Your New Blog

Pick a theme

A theme is a template for your site, like on Blogger. We have over 300 themes, with new options added weekly. Explore your options in our Theme Showcase, where you can sort themes by appearance and feature — minimalist themes, grid-based themes, themes for photographers, themes for wedding sites, three-column themes, you name it. You can also preview themes from My Site → Themes in your homepage.

The preview opens the Customizer, which lets you experiment with fonts, colors, and other theme options. Custom fonts and colors require the WordPress.com Premium plan, as does the ability to edit CSS.

There are lots of things you can customize without an upgrade. Add a header or background, upload your logo, create a static home page — all with free features. Check out what thesethreebloggers did.

Add some widgets

Like on Blogger, widgets add more functions to your blog and let you pull in content from other online hangouts. WordPress.com has dozens of widgets — check out the full list. To add them, head to your Customizer → Widgets. Select the area of your site you want to add the widget to, then add a widget.

Many widgets have configuration options, like “number of items to display” in the Recent Posts widget, while some will need or other information from you, like a link for your Flickr stream. Others, like text and image widgets, are free-for-alls. If you tweak a widget, be sure to Save & Publish to cement the changes.

Connect to Other Social Networks

We’ve got a tool called Publicize that lets you automatically share new posts on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Tumblr, and LinkedIn. Use the valuable minutes you save to get a head start on your next post, or to bake us some cookies (we like oatmeal raisin).

To enable it, head to My Site → Sharing and select your site. Select Connect next to the service you want to publish to.

Once you’ve enabled at least one service, you’ll see Publicize information when you write a new post in your dashboard. You can opt out from any of the services for a particular post, or include a custom message (the default is post title). Get all the details here.

Post Some New Stuff

On WordPress.com you can publish posts in a few ways — from WordPress.com, from our apps, or by email. (If you want the full monty on posts, pages, and uploading media, head to the tutorial.)

Posting from WordPress.com

When you’re logged in to your account, click the “New Post” button on the top right of the toolbar.

This opens the Visual Editor, a robust tool for writing, inserting media, and configuring post-specific settings like Publicize. You’ll also have a HTML Editor, if you prefer to write in HTML (here’s more on the difference).

Install the appropriate app, and log in with your WordPress.com username and password. You’ll be able to add a title and tags, upload photos from your library or take a new picture, preview, and publish your post.

Posting by Email

To post by email, create a unique email address in WordPress.com. When you email it, your subject line becomes the post title and the email text becomes the post content.

You can also add formatting and images to posts by email:

If your email client that supports HTML, your post will have as much of your formatting as possible (the Post by Email system will strip unnecessary HTML tags so that your post is displayed correctly). Most email clients support this.

To include photos or other images, attach them to the email. Multiple images will be displayed as a gallery. If you have the VideoPress upgrade, you can also send video clips.

If you post by email frequently, there are a variety of shortcodes you can include to further control your post — change your image gallery to a slideshow, edit your Publicize settings, delay publication, add tags, and more. Learn more about post-by-email shortcodes.

Engage with the WordPress.com Community

When you become a part of WordPress.com, you’re getting two awesome services for the price of none: your blog, plus your Reader, which brings every WordPress.com blog together in one easy-to-search place. In the Reader, you can:

Find great reads.

Catch up with blogs you follow.

Like, comment, and reblog posts you love.

Find Great Reads

For a jump start, check out our hand-picked content at Discover. To head into the unknown, use the tag list in the Reader to search for whatever you want.

You can also follow non-WordPress.com blogs — Blogger, Tumblr, whatever. Click Followed Sites → Manage in the Reader and put in the URL of any site you want to keep up with.

Catch Up with Bloggers You Follow

When you follow a blog, you can decide how you want to get new posts — they’ll all be collected in the “Followed Sites” tab, or you can get them via instant, daily, or monthly email. You might choose the instant email option for blogs your particularly love, or the daily email for a blog that posts multiple times a day. If you’re committed to inbox zero, you might opt for no email at all.

One of the best parts about blogging in a community is interacting and sharing with other bloggers. You can show your appreciation for a post with a Like, elaborate with a comment, and share your finds with your readers by reblogging.

Reblogging is a quick way to share posts published by other WordPress.com users while allowing the author to control their content. When you reblog a post, an excerpt shows up on your site along with a link to the original and any commentary you’ve added.

You can reblog from within the Reader or from an individual blog. When you’re logged in to WordPress.com, you’ll see a reblog option in the toolbar that’s at the top of your screen.

Apply to Be a WordAds Publisher

WordAds is WordPress.com’s in-house advertising network. If you become a WordAds publisher, we’ll place ads on your blog and share the revenue. Like other networks you may have used (BlogHer, FoodBuzz, etc.), we handle all the negotiation, administration, and technical aspects.

Our WordAds team partners with major online advertisers like Google AdSense, and we’re always evaluating new ad partners. Working together, we develop high-quality ads that don’t detract from your site and bring in maximum revenue. We also optimize ads based on geography, which means ads that are more targeted for your readers (which increases payouts).

Any WordPress.com site that meets these three criteria is eligible for WordAds:

It’s family-friendly – Would you be comfortable with a child or co-worker seeing the site?

It has a custom domain – For example, myawesomesite.com.

It has meaningful traffic – Advertisers don’t pay to appear on sites with minimal views.

That’s it! We’ve cherry-picked the bits and pieces of WordPress.com wisdom most important for a smooth Blogger import here — there’s more to learn, but you can always visit the full get-started tutorial. Happy blogging!